As part of the trend towards a better lifestyle, many people visit saunas and steam rooms, after exercising or at other time merely to obtain the benefits of the sauna or steam room. It is common practise for the person using the sauna or steam room to sit naked on a wooden or ceramic bench, and concerns have been expressed with respect to the hygiene of doing so. As people become more and more concerned about transmittal of diseases, especially sexually-related diseases, they become more concerned about the hygiene aspects of the use of saunas. While operators of saunas may take significant steps to cleanse the wooden benches on which people sit and to maintain hygienic conditions, such concerns remain. A person may take a towel or other object into the sauna in order to protect themselves, but this is frequently not a practical solution to concerns on hygiene.
In addition to such concerns, it would be useful if the person could sit on a surface that provided both comfort and some beneficial effects, including, massaging effects, e.g. relating to so-called "cellulite" that might be present on a person's upper thighs and/or their buttocks.